Brazil

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

 

IN FORCE

 

 

Status

Brazil has signed but not yet ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

 

Signature

Michel Temer, the then-president of Brazil, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017, describing it as “a historic moment”.

He submitted the treaty to the national congress in 2018 “with a view to its ratification”. However, no progress was achieved towards that end during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022.

In 2023, Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said in Hiroshima: “As long as nuclear weapons exist, there will always be the possibility of their use. It was for this reason that Brazil was actively engaged in the negotiations of the [TPNW], which we hope to be able to ratify soon.”

The government of Lula da Silva has described ratification of the TPNW as “a priority”.

In 2023, the committee on foreign affairs and national defence of the lower house of the congress examined the treaty, and its rapporteur, Jonas Donizette, published an opinion supporting ratification. Another committee member, Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança, published a dissenting opinion.

A public hearing to debate the proposed ratification is still pending.

Michel Temer, the then-president of Brazil, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

 

National position

In 2019, Brazil described the negotiation and adoption of the TPNW as “an evolutionary leap for the disarmament and non-proliferation regime”, which “has significantly raised the moral barrier against these weapons”.

It has also described the TPNW as “the most important international agreement negotiated in the field of disarmament in recent years”.

Brazil welcomed the TPNW’s entry into force in 2021 as “a historic achievement, which embodies the growing international consensus that nuclear weapons must never again be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time”.

In 2022, it said that the TPNW “delegitimises [nuclear] weapons as instruments of power”, while also emphasising that “nothing in the TPNW stands in the way for the realisation of the step-by-step or gradual approach” to nuclear disarmament.

In 2023, it said that it was “encouraged by the growing number of states that recognise the need for a full prohibition of nuclear weapons” and the “ever more robust consensus” regarding the importance of the TPNW.

 

Universalisation

Brazil has promoted universal adherence to the TPNW, including by co-sponsoring and consistently voting in favour of an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to the treaty “at the earliest possible date”.

 

Meetings of states parties

Brazil observed the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “Many years of paralysis in the core mechanisms of the disarmament regime, coupled with a crisis involving the main nuclear powers, places us at a critical juncture,” it said.

“It is time to re-energise diplomatic and multilateral efforts to bring us away from the brink of catastrophe. This meeting is a promising first step in that direction.”

Brazil welcomed the adoption of a declaration and action plan at the meeting, and said that it “fully subscribes” to the “unequivocal condemnation of any and all nuclear threats”.

Brazil also observed the second meeting of states parties in 2023, where it celebrated the fact that “membership in the TPNW has continued to grow at a time when other aspects of the disarmament and non-proliferation regime are struggling to make advances or even hold together”.

It also remarked that “nuclear tensions over the past few years … underscored the need for prohibition, much like the rising nuclear tension of the early 1960s drove home the need for the [Non-Proliferation Treaty]”.

 

TPNW negotiations

Brazil participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favour of its adoption.

In its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Brazil described the conclusion of a treaty banning nuclear weapons as “a legal and moral duty of the international community” and “essential for the preservation of peace and our planet”.

In its closing statement, it described the TPNW’s adoption as “a milestone for the legal disarmament regime and for international peace and security”.

Brazil, Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa comprised a “core group” of states that played a leading role in bringing the negotiations about and ensuring their ultimate success.

In 2016, Brazil co-sponsored the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

 

Before the negotiations

Brazil was among 127 states that endorsed a “humanitarian pledge” in 2015–16 to cooperate “in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit, and eliminate nuclear weapons”. The pledge was instrumental in building momentum and support for convening the TPNW negotiations.

 

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

Nuclear-weapon-free state

Has signed the TPNW

Has not yet ratified the TPNW

[HIGHLIGHTS]

SIGNED

20 September 2017

RATIFIED

 

IN FORCE

 

 

Status

Brazil has signed but not yet ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

 

Signature

Michel Temer, the then-president of Brazil, signed the TPNW at a high-level ceremony in New York when it opened for signature on 20 September 2017, describing it as “a historic moment”.

He submitted the treaty to the national congress in 2018 “with a view to its ratification”. However, no progress was achieved towards that end during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro from 2019 to 2022.

In 2023, Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said in Hiroshima: “As long as nuclear weapons exist, there will always be the possibility of their use. It was for this reason that Brazil was actively engaged in the negotiations of the [TPNW], which we hope to be able to ratify soon.”

The government of Lula da Silva has described ratification of the TPNW as “a priority”.

In 2023, the committee on foreign affairs and national defence of the lower house of the congress examined the treaty, and its rapporteur, Jonas Donizette, published an opinion supporting ratification. Another committee member, Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Bragança, published a dissenting opinion.

A public hearing to debate the proposed ratification is still pending.

Michel Temer, the then-president of Brazil, signs the TPNW in 2017. Photo: ICAN

 

National position

In 2019, Brazil described the negotiation and adoption of the TPNW as “an evolutionary leap for the disarmament and non-proliferation regime”, which “has significantly raised the moral barrier against these weapons”.

It has also described the TPNW as “the most important international agreement negotiated in the field of disarmament in recent years”.

Brazil welcomed the TPNW’s entry into force in 2021 as “a historic achievement, which embodies the growing international consensus that nuclear weapons must never again be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time”.

In 2022, it said that the TPNW “delegitimises [nuclear] weapons as instruments of power”, while also emphasising that “nothing in the TPNW stands in the way for the realisation of the step-by-step or gradual approach” to nuclear disarmament.

In 2023, it said that it was “encouraged by the growing number of states that recognise the need for a full prohibition of nuclear weapons” and the “ever more robust consensus” regarding the importance of the TPNW.

 

Universalisation

Brazil has promoted universal adherence to the TPNW, including by co-sponsoring and consistently voting in favour of an annual UN General Assembly resolution since 2018 that calls upon all states to sign, ratify, or accede to the treaty “at the earliest possible date”.

 

Meetings of states parties

Brazil observed the first meeting of states parties to the TPNW in 2022. “Many years of paralysis in the core mechanisms of the disarmament regime, coupled with a crisis involving the main nuclear powers, places us at a critical juncture,” it said.

“It is time to re-energise diplomatic and multilateral efforts to bring us away from the brink of catastrophe. This meeting is a promising first step in that direction.”

Brazil welcomed the adoption of a declaration and action plan at the meeting, and said that it “fully subscribes” to the “unequivocal condemnation of any and all nuclear threats”.

Brazil also observed the second meeting of states parties in 2023, where it celebrated the fact that “membership in the TPNW has continued to grow at a time when other aspects of the disarmament and non-proliferation regime are struggling to make advances or even hold together”.

It also remarked that “nuclear tensions over the past few years … underscored the need for prohibition, much like the rising nuclear tension of the early 1960s drove home the need for the [Non-Proliferation Treaty]”.

 

TPNW negotiations

Brazil participated in the negotiation of the TPNW at the United Nations in New York in 2017 and was among 122 states that voted in favour of its adoption.

In its opening statement to the negotiating conference, Brazil described the conclusion of a treaty banning nuclear weapons as “a legal and moral duty of the international community” and “essential for the preservation of peace and our planet”.

In its closing statement, it described the TPNW’s adoption as “a milestone for the legal disarmament regime and for international peace and security”.

Brazil, Austria, Ireland, Mexico, Nigeria, and South Africa comprised a “core group” of states that played a leading role in bringing the negotiations about and ensuring their ultimate success.

In 2016, Brazil co-sponsored the UN General Assembly resolution that established the formal mandate for states to commence negotiations on “a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination”.

 

Before the negotiations

Brazil was among 127 states that endorsed a “humanitarian pledge” in 2015–16 to cooperate “in efforts to stigmatise, prohibit, and eliminate nuclear weapons”. The pledge was instrumental in building momentum and support for convening the TPNW negotiations.

 

Further information

Nuclear Weapons Ban Monitor

[PARTNERS]

Brazilian Campaign Against Landmines and Cluster Munitions
Grupo de Praticas em Direito Humano e Direito Internacional 

[LOCALSUPPORT]

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  • Brazilian Campaign Against Landmines and Cluster Munitions
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